1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector and, more particularly, to a scoop proof electrical connector.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,495 discloses a squib, scoop proof electrical connector. The connector is used for an air bag system in a vehicle, and the scoop proof feature prevents improper initiator pin-bending insertion of the plug connector into the socket connector. U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,750 discloses a squib electrical connector with a ferrite tube surrounding portions of contacts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,230 discloses a co-axial squib electrical connector with a ferrite block surrounding portions of electrical wires.
A problem exists with conventional squib electrical connectors used as vehicle air bag connectors in that the height size of the connectors are limited due to the limited size of the area they are used in (vehicle space limitations), and the height of ferrite tubes at, contact areas of plug connectors is desired to be larger for better filtering or attenuating. These two diametrically opposite factors have prevented a small size squib air bag connector from having adequate ferrite filtering at its contacts. In addition, existing scoop proof squib type electrical connectors have ferrites positioned in areas other than the nose section of the connector body because the narrowest width of the scoop proof socket electrical connector nose receiving portion is about 1.11 mm and the radiused sections are about 2.88 mm in diameter. In part, the larger conventional electrical connector nose receiving portion was reduced in the known scoop proof connectors to help provide the scoop proof benefits. However, this reduction in size precluded the use of standard 2.8 mm diameter ferrites in the nose section of the scoop proof plug connector because of space constraints.